My nose woke up when I walked into the greenhouse and took a good long inhale of the smell of fertile soil. The air was much warmer and before long I took off my coat, hat and mittens! Farmer Scott was tinkering around with the thermostat on the ridge vent as well as the heaters inside the house as the temperatures ranged from close to 90 degrees inside when the sun was shining, to down in the 50s when we had all the vents open. Our expert electrician Sam was putting last minute touches on the electrical boxes, double checking that everything was in proper working order and put labels on all the switches! These steps are important precursors to starting seeds in the greenhouse, as you can imagine the young plants would not like it if the thermostats did not work and they found themselves trying to grow in 30 degree weather!
The growing season will be here before we know it, so it begins.... Scott started by filling the seed trays with good fertile soil. Next, he sorted out the different varieties of onion seeds. We are starting with onions as they take quite awhile to get going. Some people choose to plant "onion sets" which are small baby-like onions and the onion plant has a jump start on the growing season. We are planting the actual seeds, starting from step 1! Once Farmer Scott had the varieties sorted, away we went! 3 seeds to pod, not 2 not 4 - and oh geesh, it slows one down if you dump too many in (b/c you get to pick them out!) Onions are typically planted about 2 inches apart. Because of the large amount that we are planting at DeLano, we have chosen to plant 3 onion plants 6 inches apart - and they will have room to get enough of the nutrients, water and space to grow into lovely all natural onions for you to flavor your most favorite recipes with!
Interested in getting your hands dirty? smelling that familiar earthy scent? can you count to three? Come out and join us - contact Farmer Scott at 269-381-1574 ext. 26
Just spending time putting some points on the cultivator shoes and getting the rust off of them. They need to be shiny so that the soil will roll up and around them when we go out to weed. The shoes get bolted on to the shank. Not reusing old bolts on these babies. We need to make sure they hold together for our season of weeding. These will get attached to the IH 140 we just purchased last month.
We just got our transplanter delivered. This thing will allow us to transplant our little ones very effectively. Considering we need to start over 250 flats of onions alone, this thing will be an efficiency booster on a logarithmic scale. Its a three person job with two butts on back and one on the tractor. the water will be put into each hole for the plants to get a good start and we can even put in some stinky fish fertilizer for that added spring boost. We are looking for volunteers to put their behinds on the behind of this thing and get to know their neighbor and his/her behind. BTW... check out the listing on volunteerKalamazoo for other great opp's on the way -
We had our first DeLano Farms program last week! I offered
"Local Foods~ The CSA Model", an integrated discussion on the importance of quality fresh local foods and the details of what it's like to participate in a CSA. The program was complete with MI made local products to sample: North Branch, MI tortilla chips and cherry salsa from Honor, MI. It's surprising when you do the research and find out how much our southwestern Michigan area offers the "locavore". We explored farmer's markets, CSAs, businesses that stock and support local products, local foods events, and volunteer opportunities. The greater Kalamazoo area has come a long way in the offerings for local products! If you missed the program, and want to learn more about local foods, don't worry, I will be offering this program again on
April 12th from 6:45 - 8 pm with special guests: Lee and Laurie Arboreal from Eater's Guild, a local farm in Bangor, MI. The program is family friendly, although the discussion is geared towards adults. Free and open to the public!
Visit us again next week, we just might have started seeding in our greenhouse.... (we have plans to start onions late week!)
Tags:
Community supported agriculture
CSA
greenhouse
programs
seeds
If you were to spend any time with me at all in the past three months you would know that the only thing I talk about it the greenhouse. Its a key feature in the farm and it would not succeed without it. I spend days and evenings worrying about its completion. We are one step closer to that goal. Yesterday we got the ridge vent hooked up to the motor and cycled it through to a fully open state!
What is a ridge vent and why do I care you may ask. Most greenhouses install fans to bring in cool air and exhaust hot. We do not need to do this because we can open the top of the greenhouse when it gets hot. And since we are all subject to the climate change I assume everyone now understands the greenhouse effect.
What is really neat about this system is that we can also roll up the side about 5 feet effectively creating a chimney. Cool air moves in at the bottom and hot air goes out the top. As this happens it draws in even more cool air. And we save lots of energy by not running a load of fans all summer while the plants are in the greenhouse.
I promise, after the greenhouse has the gas installed for the heaters and we have plants growing in it I will stop talking about it. Well, a little bit. I bet I will take pictures of the little baby plants in there and show you how dang cute they are.
Tags:
greenhouse construction
Yes, Its a girl. She popped into the barn on a blank of freshly fallen snow late Saturday night. She weighs 4,500 lbs and is a squat 107" long. Though she looks and acts like a sweet newborn she has an old soul. As soon as her fluids are changed and the weather warms up we are going to get her out on fresh, spring gasoline. After she is trained in the ways of weeding we will be asking a lot of her this summer to be a killer of weeds. She was bred specifically for removing those nasty weeds from crop fields and saving the farmers backs. There are not many of her around anymore since everyone has gotten so big.
We have not named her yet so we are taking suggestions. You can email farmer scott with your ideas. It will be a wholly unDemocratic process where all suggestions will be tallied and I decide on the name!
Tags:
cultivation
delano farm
international harvester 140
side dresser
tractor
“It’s high time for us to build a greenhouse”, I can remember Farmer Scott saying back in October. Okay I thought, that sounds easy enough, slap up some poles and cover them with plastic and you’re done – right? Easy as grandma’s pumpkin pie. Well, I was soon to find out that by no means is building your own greenhouse an “easy as pumpkin pie” type of project.
Continue reading to get the full story and a slideshow of the progress... Thanks to all our hard working volunteers and staff members who generously gave their time and skills to make this happen!
[Read More...]
Tags:
CSA
garden
greenhouse
kalamazoo nature center
We finished getting the new propagation greenhouse covered a little over a week ago. It was a great moment in the history of Delano Farm. And then the snow storm hit. Its the most snow we have gotten for the 2012 season. I went out to check on it because snow can build up and collapse a greenhouse when its not heated. We currently have no heat in it yet. So I spent a little time playing in the snow, or under the snow as it were and made a quick little video so everyone could see just how much fun it is on the farm even in the winter. Enjoy!
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One of the things I have been working on the last few days is doing the seed order. This is a massive undertaking. With over 50 types of veggies grown each year, an uncountable number of varieties, and an infinite number of successive plantings, this is a logistical merry-go-round. Luckily for me I enjoy those rides!
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What a great time to become a DeLano Farms CSA shareholder!
23 weeks of fresh veggies, herbs, and new this year, optional u-pick items to compliment your share.
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Every day we make decisions about the food we eat. A question that comes up often and is quite difficult to answer is "where does our food come from?
[Read More...]
Tags:
Community supported agriculture
fresh vegatables
local foods
Week 23 - Last regular weekly pickup!
We are hard at work this autumn to prepare for our next year's CSA, with many projects and much planning to ensure a bountiful harvest. One of the things CSAs must do is the propagation of many of the veggie plants used to grow the food.
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A great time was had by all on Sunday at the CSA Shareholder Celebration! [Read More...]
Crops such as kale and chard grow right up until a hard frost without bolting; so be prepared to notice a lot more of them around market. [Read More...]
This Weeks Harvest
and more!
We are in a time of transitions, on the farm, in our country and the in world as a whole as it relates to food. We are regaining our interaction with and knowledge of food and where it comes from. [Read More...]
This Weeks Harvest
Enjoy the Bounty! [Read More...]
We often eat fruits and vegetables at specific stages of growth. [Read More...]
The seasons change and so do our vegetables. Enjoy what this season offers!
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Many fall crops are growing now and the upcoming harvests will provide some great eating. [Read More...]
It is helpful as a farmer to make keen observations. Realizing subtle differences in the garden and making sense of change. [Read More...]